A Father’s Counsel
My son, listen to my words. I promise you this: if you keep God’s commandments, you’ll thrive in this land.
I want you to do what I’ve done—remember the captivity of our ancestors. They were enslaved, and no one could free them except the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And he did rescue them from their troubles. Now, Helaman, my son, you’re still young, so please listen to me and learn. I know this for certain: whoever puts their trust in God will be supported through their trials and troubles, and will be lifted up in the end.
Don’t think I know this from my own wisdom—not from anything earthly, but from the Spirit. Not from human understanding, but from God. If I hadn’t been born of God, I wouldn’t know these things. But God, through his holy angel, revealed them to me—not because I deserved it.
The Angel’s Warning
I was traveling with the sons of Mosiah, trying to destroy God’s church. But God sent his holy angel to stop us on the road. The angel spoke with a voice like thunder. The whole earth shook beneath us, and we all collapsed to the ground. The fear of the Lord overwhelmed us. But the voice said to me, 'Get up.' So I stood and faced the angel. He said to me, 'If you want to destroy yourself, keep trying to destroy God’s church.'
I fell to the ground. For three days and three nights, I couldn’t open my mouth or move my body. The angel said more things that my companions heard, but I didn’t. When I heard the words, 'If you want to destroy yourself, stop trying to destroy God’s church,' such terror and shock hit me that I collapsed. I heard nothing else.
Three Days of Torment
I was racked with endless torment. My soul was torn apart and tortured by all my sins. I remembered every sin and wrong I’d done, and for them I was tormented with the pains of hell. I saw how I’d rebelled against God and hadn’t kept his holy commandments. I’d murdered many of his children—or rather, led them to destruction. My wrongs were so great that just the thought of standing before God filled my soul with unspeakable horror. I thought to myself, 'I wish I could be banished and wiped out completely—body and soul—so I wouldn’t have to stand before God and be judged for what I’ve done.'
For three days and three nights I was racked with the pains of a damned soul.
A Desperate Prayer
While I was being tortured like this, haunted by the memory of my many sins, I suddenly remembered something. I’d heard my father prophesy to the people about the coming of Jesus Christ, a Son of God, who would atone for the sins of the world. As my mind grabbed hold of this thought, I cried out in my heart: 'O Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me—trapped in bitter poison and wrapped in the everlasting chains of death.'
The moment I thought this, I couldn’t remember my pain anymore. I wasn’t haunted by the memory of my sins anymore. And oh, what joy! What brilliant light I saw! My soul was filled with joy as intense as my pain had been. I tell you, my son, nothing could be as sharp and bitter as my pain was. And on the other hand, nothing could be as sharp and sweet as my joy. I saw—just like our ancestor Lehi saw—God sitting on his throne, surrounded by countless angels singing and praising him. My soul longed to be there.
A Life Transformed
Then my body got its strength back. I stood up and told the people I’d been born of God. From that moment until now, I’ve worked without stopping to bring people to repentance—to help them taste the incredible joy I tasted, so they too could be born of God and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
And now, my son, the Lord gives me tremendous joy from the fruit of my work. Because of the word he’s given me, many have been born of God. They’ve tasted what I tasted and seen what I’ve seen. So they know these things just as I know them—and the knowledge I have comes from God.
God’s Faithful Deliverance
I’ve been sustained through trials and troubles of every kind. God has rescued me from prison, from chains, and from death. I put my trust in him, and he’ll keep rescuing me.
I know he’ll raise me up in the end to live with him in glory. I’ll praise him forever. He brought our ancestors out of Egypt and swallowed up the Egyptians in the Red Sea. He led them by his power into the promised land. He’s delivered them from slavery and captivity again and again. He brought our ancestors out of Jerusalem, and by his everlasting power has rescued them from slavery and captivity over and over, right up to today. I’ve always remembered their captivity, and you should remember it too, just as I have.
But listen, my son, there’s more. You need to know what I know: if you keep God’s commandments, you’ll thrive in this land. And you also need to know this: if you don’t keep his commandments, you’ll be cut off from his presence. This is according to his word.
Influences
- 36:1 — 1 Corinthians 7:19 (KJV)Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.
- 36:2 — Matthew 22:32 (KJV)I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
- 36:3 — Matthew 11:29 (KJV)Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
- 36:4 — 1 Corinthians 10:20 (KJV)But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.
- 36:4 — Romans 8:7 (KJV)Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
- 36:4 — Romans 13:1 (KJV)Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
- 36:5 — 1 John 3:9 (KJV)Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
- 36:7 — Revelation 19:6 (KJV)And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
- 36:10 — Acts 19:8 (KJV)And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.
- 36:13 — Revelation 14:10 (KJV)The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
- 36:17 — Acts 25:19 (KJV)But had certain questions against him of their own superstition, and of one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive.
- 36:18 — Matthew 15:22 (KJV)And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
- 36:18 — Acts 8:23 (KJV)For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.
- 36:18 — Acts 8:23 (KJV)For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.
- 36:20 — 1 Peter 2:9 (KJV)But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;
- 36:20 — 2 Timothy 1:4 (KJV)Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy;
- 36:24 — 2 Timothy 1:3 (KJV)I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;
- 36:24 — Acts 2:4 (KJV)And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
- 36:26 — Hebrews 6:5 (KJV)And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
- 36:28 — Revelation 12:16 (KJV)And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
Notes
- 36:1-30
LDS John W. Welch, author of, Rediscovering the Book of Mormon, argues that the use of chiasms in the Book of Mormon supports its authenticity. Alma 36:1-30 is his most famous example of a chiastic structure in the Book of Mormon.
On chiasms, Dr. Nils W. Lund writes, "It is doubtful that as many books are chiastic as has been suggested, but the presence of chiasmus in the ancient world is unquestioned. They very way that learning occurred may have contributed to chiastic structures and awareness. In all probability chiasmus was used for mnemonic purposes to assist in the dissemination of material in an oral culture. It was a way for a hearer or reader to keep track of the sequence of ideas. Therefore, chiasmus was rhetorical, artistic, and functional both for the author in arranging material for emphasis and for the reader in remembering that material." -Nils W. Lund, Chiasmus in the New Testament: A Study in the Form and Function of Chiastic Structures, p. vii.
LDS philosopher Blake Ostler, in reviewing the book, Book of Mormon Authorship: New Light on Ancient Origins, commented, "Book of Mormon Authorship has made a prima facie case for the ancient origins of the Book of Mormon. It fails, however, to respond to scholarly criticism in some crucial areas. For example, since Welch first published his study on chiasmus in 1969, it has been discovered that chiasmus also appears in the Doctrine and Covenants (see, for example, 88:34-38; 93:18-38; 132:19-26, 29-36), the Pearl of Great Price (Book of Abraham 3:16-19; 22-28), and other isolated nineteenth-century works. Thus, Welch's major premise that chiasmus is exclusively an ancient literary device is false. Indeed, the presence of chiasmus in the Book of Mormon may be evidence of Joseph Smith's own literary style and genius. Perhaps Welch could have strengthened his premise by demonstrating that the parallel members in the Book of Mormon consist of Semitic word pairs, the basis of ancient Hebrew poetry. Without such a demonstration, both Welch's and Reynold's arguments from chiasmus are weak." -Blake T. Ostler, Review of Book of Mormon Authorship: New Light on Ancient Origins, by Noel B. Reynolds, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, vol. 16, no. 4 (Winter, 1983): p. 143.
We believe that when examined closely and in its entirety, Alma 36:1–30 fails to meet the criteria of a genuine chiastic structure and instead appears to be artificially constructed through selective and inconsistent analysis.
In response to Welch's claim that Alma 36 is chiastic, a writer reproduced the section in question on www.lds-mormon.com, showing which elements Welch included and which verses were ignored. The writer states, "The first thing that we note is that there is an awful lot of repetition in this passage... Given that there is so much repetition, does this not increase the chances that at least some passages would display a roughly chiastic structure? Especially when we depart from the strict definition of a chiasm, and note that there are a number of elements that have no parallels, and still others that have parallels that are outside of the chiastic structure. Take, for example, the phrase, 'born of God.' It occurs four times in this passage (and seven times in the book of Alma). Two of these occurrences are worked into the chiastic structure by Welch-verses 5 and 24. A third occurrence, in verse 26, can also be worked into the structure, because it occurs between elements L and J (See Welch's chiasm structure for reference). The fourth occurrence, in verse 23, is found between elements M and L. If, as Welch asserts, this passage were deliberately intended to be chiastic, why would the author include elements that break the structure? A similar problem afflicts element I, which is actually misplaced in the chiastic structure. Again, to labor the point, the phrase 'harrowed up' occurs three times (verse 12, 17 and 19). two of these, verse 17 and 19, can be worked into the chiastic structure. The third, in verse 12, cannot. In short,.. The chiasms that Mormon researchers find all over the Book are, in fact, a result of the incredible amount of repetition contained therein, and are well within the bounds of probability. This, couple with the rather loose definition of a chiasm employed by the researchers, wherein they can include only those elements which fit the structure, and discard those elements which don't, results in a large number of imaginary chiasms in the Book." -anonymous author. For full review, including Welch's proposed chiastic structure, see Joseph Smith's Plagiarism of the Bible in the Book of Mormon, pp. 221-233.
- 36:6-14
In Joseph Smith's Plagiarism of the Bible in the Book of Mormon, Jerald and Sandra Tanner list at least 17 significant parallels between the Apostle Paul in the Bible and Alma in the Book of Mormon.
Compare Alma 36:6 with 1 Corinthians 15:9. Both Alma and Paul traveled about trying to destroy the church of God. Likewise, Alma 36:14 with Acts 22:4 describe how both Alma and Paul were vigorous in their persecution of the church.
Other parallels between Paul and Alma noted on: Mosiah 27:8-32, Alma 14:22-28, Alma 15:11, Alma 30:32.
- 36:18
"Curiously, of the five times the words 'gall of bitterness' are used in the Book of Mormon, four of them include the words 'bonds of iniquity.' It should be noted that all of these quotes are set in the same context as the quote from Acts 8:23." -Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Joseph Smith's Plagiarism of the Bible in the Book of Mormon, p. 23.
See also: Mosiah 27:29, Alma 41:11, Mormon 8:31, Moroni 8:14.